Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth delivers State of the County address

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth delivered his State of the County address Monday afternoon.

He touted a number of key initiatives.

The county now has 5,700 affordable housing units compared to a thousand when he first took office. They’ve also set aside $7.5 million for homeless support services.

Roth also applauded the disaster mitigation response at the start of the Mauna Loa eruption.

“We do it through building resilience, capacity, that takes the issues of today and lays the foundations for tomorrow,” Roth said. “This could be through the resurrection of affordable housing projects, investment in homeless issues, and real time response to natural disasters and emergencies.”

Mayor Roth also pointed out the benefits of having two major productions film on island, including Jason Momoa’s project, “Chief of War.”

Roth explained the industry brought in $32 million for the county and created just under 200 local jobs.

Watch the address in full here:

Among the key issues he touched on:

• Homelessness
• Economic Development
• Affordable Housing
• Building Permitting (EPIC)
• Critical Infrastructure Projects
• Kilauea Eruption Recovery
• Mauna Loa Eruption
• Public Safety
• Public Transportation
• Sustainability

Copyright 2023 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.